


John and Rodney in a Box

by Seaward



Series: What Started in a Box [1]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, The Sentinel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-04
Updated: 2013-10-04
Packaged: 2017-12-28 10:47:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/991139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seaward/pseuds/Seaward
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being imprisoned in a tight space by aliens leads to more than one revelation for John and Rodney.</p>
            </blockquote>





	John and Rodney in a Box

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to Elayna and The Guy for taking time to look this over. Any remaining flaws are mine, but I'm new at this, and I tried!

“Did you just lick me?”

“No!” Rodney hoped he’d said the word loud enough to be heard. He could hear John’s voice and breathing and heartbeat as if they surrounded him, holding him present, but could he have zoned? He didn’t want to believe he’d licked John, but he could taste the salt and musk and what he knew must be John-ness on his tongue. It tasted just like John smelled right now. The smell of John was anxious but not fearful, a smell Rodney sometimes found calming all things considered, but right now, this close together in a box, it was affecting him in ways he’d rather it didn’t. Despite not focusing on touch and carefully keeping his hips solidly against the far side of the smooth, hard box from John, Rodney could feel his cock at least semi-erect, sensitive enough that the slightest shift of fabric coaxed it forward.

He’d been able to control his erections since he was a teenager. How could he be falling into this now? How could he have licked John? Had he zoned and John’s closeness had called him back out of it? Had he licked John while finding his way back from a zone? But he never zoned, that’s why he’d been able to pass all this time with no one knowing he was a Sentinel, why he’d been able to secure his way to Atlantis. The old fear that maybe he had zoned sometimes, just briefly, rattled through his thoughts. Maybe his luck would run out and he’d do something too bizarre to be dismissed as eccentricity or social geekiness.

For now, he had to reign himself in and think his way out of this box. Concentrating on lowering all his senses except sight, Rodney looked around the seam of the box lid. There was some light coming through, not enough for John to see with regular vision, but enough for Rodney to see with pumped up Sentinel vision that the inner lip of the box, beneath the lid, was not quite level all the way around, and there was a joint about a centimeter down where the white material at the lip met the white material that formed the rest of the box. The faint light coming over the lip angled down, meaning it was reflecting an equal angle on the other side. Presumably a lip came down from the lid just beyond, meaning the light Rodney saw first angled up under the outer lip and then down over the inner lip. Something that might be used to form an airtight seal, but at the moment it wasn’t fully sealed.

Had that been intentional or accidental on the part of their captors, the silent men in the robes? Were he and John meant to survive or to just die slowly? Were they going to die over days from lack of water and food? The very thought made Rodney’s stomach growl. He shifted to pat his pockets, checking if there might be a powerbar stowed away still. The shifting rubbed Rodney’s cock against the front of his trousers just as John asked, “What are you doing?”

Rodney stiffened all over. “Just checking my pockets for food. I think they may have left us here to starve.”

“Nah, we’d die of thirst first.”

“Thank you for that rudimentary physiology lesson, but I have hypoglycemia, remember. If my blood sugar drops too low, I won’t be thinking clearly, and at that point I might as well be dead.”

-

John did not like the sound of that, even if Rodney said it in a teasing tone. John had the strong urge to shake the pessimistic scientist and say he’d get them both out of this no matter what, but he suspected Rodney could rightly tear that argument apart at the moment. The box they’d been left in was sealed tight with barely enough room for either of them to move. “You know Teyla and Ronon will be searching for us. They’ll find us before we need to worry about dehydration, and it won’t matter if you’re grumpy or shaky. No one will notice a difference.”

But John would notice. He knew the difference between Rodney’s usual ranting, his frightened ranting, and his injured or hungry ranting. He knew that when things were really bad, Rodney went silent. He’d hoped to never know whether Rodney would rant harder or grow quiet if his blood sugar dropped too low, but there was no way he’d mention that to Rodney.

“Do you have any idea how many storage rooms and box-like objects there are here?” Rodney sputtered. “We must have seen thirty rooms and over two hundred boxes or large objects so far. If we assume this whole mountain structure is similarly appointed, then estimating the volume, I’d say there are over twenty-two thousand rooms and one hundred and fifty thousand potential hiding places.”

Rodney was wiggling again, reaching up to touch the edges of the box and in the process rubbing against John’s arm and shoulder. As so many times before, John tried to push away any physical reaction to the scientist’s touch, but it was challenging with Rodney lying close behind him, literally breathing down his neck. He remembered the sensation that had surely felt like Rodney licking him right where his shoulder met his neck, and it sent a shiver through his body.

-

Rodney had been running his fingers along the seam where the lower and upper lips of slightly resilient material were meant to seal the box. He’d been letting his sense of touch coast up and up as he searched for defects or for greater wear or shrinkage where a latch might press outside. Then John shivered and it hit Rodney’s expanded sense of touch full force. Hundreds of nerve endings on the front of his body fired at once and Rodney felt himself spiraling out of control.

It was only a change in John’s scent that kept Rodney from zoning badly. As Rodney reeled himself in on the smell and dialed back touch to normal levels, he noticed two things: what he was smelling was John’s arousal and Rodney’s cock was now painfully hard and within micrometers of making itself felt by his unintended box companion. Rationally, Rodney knew that whatever had caused John to shiver and become aroused, there was no way that John, who had never shown any sexual interest in men let alone Rodney, was going to react well if he noticed Rodney’s erection.

Compensating as he had all his life, Rodney started talking about science. “From the change in material where the lid contacts the box, I’ve deduced that there must be at least two sections, outer and inner, meant to form an airtight seal. That suggests this box could function as some sort of gas chamber, pressure chamber, or refrigeration system. There’s no way to tell if it’s hooked up to a power system, since none of the technology we passed on the way in detected as powered up, but there were power readings coming from underground.”

“So if this is Ancient technology and I could think it on,” John said, “that might make it easier for Ronon and Teyla to find us by detecting the power signature.”

“Seriously? If it’s Ancient, let’s turn it on? Why am I trapped in a box with an idiot? First, we have no reason to believe this is Ancient technology, and second, if you turned it on, we’d most likely asphyxiate, suffocate, or freeze to death before they found us.”

“Well, maybe as a last resort.”

“By definition.”

“Could we pry it open?” John traced his arm along Rodney’s as he asked, presumably to locate and feel the material of the seal that Rodney had been talking about, but Rodney hadn’t anticipated the touch.

Rodney’s cock, which had finally been calming down, sprung back to attention, and Rodney decided there was no way he could survive several days of this, even if his thinking didn’t fade to incoherency due to low blood sugar and lead him to some fatal admission.

It made no sense that he would be this out of control already. He’d been able to hide both his intelligence and his Sentinel senses almost instinctively by the time he’d started school. Even if he’d been too young to understand what the Sentinel program was searching for when they first came through his classroom, he’d known that testing out better than other kids just led to teasing and sometimes even hitting, so he’d kept his attention focused inward on mentally working successive approximations of pi, a trick he’d found kept his senses in check and kept him from the embarrassing bursts of inattention he’d later learned were called zone outs.

If he’d been smart enough to keep the secrets he cared about for thirty plus years, why was he stumbling now? And why had he licked John?

His mind was drawn back to Sentinel-Guide stories he’d read online as a teen. He’d always gone through multiple anonymizers so no one could possibly discover his obsession, but beyond the dry government propaganda which made Sentinels sound unstable and generally unintelligent, Rodney had found reassurance in the stories. Perhaps they were all romantic fiction, but they talked about Sentinels finding the right Guide and bonding with all their senses. Usually taste was accomplished with a kiss, and often it led to a whole lot more. Rodney had read all he could as a horny adolescent, an adolescent who was worried about losing control in any real life sexual encounter. He’d speculated that there could be dozens of unidentified Sentinels out there, possibly more in hiding than the two thousand or so officially identified by governments through organized screening programs. Maybe the statistics made Sentinels look stupid because the smart ones, like Rodney, had the sense to hide. Rodney couldn’t imagine Sentinels of even slightly above average intelligence wanting the government to intrude on their lives, limit them to only working with their assigned Guide, mark them with a tattoo to warn others of their ability to see and hear more than expected. Besides, if smart Sentinels could compensate for their senses and avoid zoning on their own, what need did they have for assigned Guides or official Sentinel training programs?

Rodney had never seriously questioned his decision to hide his sensory abilities. Even as an adult who wielded his intelligence as a weapon to win respect and freedom for his own pursuits, he’d known his own genius wouldn’t be enough to get him to Atlantis as a Sentinel without a Guide.

Now here he was in a box with John, and it seemed very likely that if they weren’t rescued for even a couple of days, while trapped in this box Rodney was at serious risk of slipping into a zone out he couldn’t escape on his own. Then even if they were rescued, either no one would guess what the real problem was and some inappropriate medical voodoo might kill Rodney, or whoever figured it out would be obliged to report him. After that, it probably wouldn’t matter how brilliant he was or how long he’d spent functioning independently, the bureaucratic wheels would do their best to grind him up and spit him out of the independence and work he’d fought to achieve.

-

John had felt Rodney startle when he’d touched his arm to locate the seam-thing Rodney had been talking about. Then Rodney had become strangely silent, and John had started to worry. Rodney’s reactions to touch were unpredictable at best, and John was always careful not to cross any lines, aside from all the shoving and bumping shoulders that he’d found he could get away with continuously. Now Rodney seemed too still and too quiet. With Rodney, that usually meant something was very wrong.

“So what do you think, McKay? Could we pry it open?”

“Using what?”

John started patting down his clothing, checking to see if anything useful might still be left. Their captors had taken all their weapons, emptied their pockets, even removed their shoes. As John searched his back pockets he felt something that went right to the most primitive part of his brain. If he didn’t know better, he’d think Rodney had a hard on, a pretty amazingly hot and hard one, perhaps not the right tool for prying open a box, but the kind that euphemistically was suggested to pound nails.

Suddenly John’s interpretations of their time in the box took a sharp right turn. What if Rodney’s sudden stillnesses and silences, the way he’d kept his lower body as far as possible from John’s, was just a way of hiding the same sexual interest that John had been hiding from Rodney since pretty much the moment they met? Sure Rodney talked as if he was lusting after blond women whenever he wasn’t filling his face with food or deriding his audience with his superior intellectual observations, but maybe that was just a cover after all.

John could feel his body reacting to the mere speculation, but he had to find a way to be sure without asking or telling. Not that Rodney was bound by those rules, but assuming they survived and had to work together after this, John didn’t want to destroy his career or his friendship.

“So, if we can’t pry our way out of this box, we don’t want to risk activating it, and we might be stuck in here for several days, do you have any genius insights on how to make ourselves more comfortable?”

-

Even with his senses tuned down, Rodney was excruciatingly aware of his cock after John’s hand brushed past. John hadn’t said anything immediately, but a quick adjustment of scent let Rodney know that John became much more aroused after that accidental touch. When Rodney heard the question about getting comfortable, he knew exactly what John meant, but smart as he was, he didn’t know how to answer. If there was any truth at all in the stories he’d read, and if he was responding to John as a potential Guide, then having sex now was going to make it a lot harder to keep his Sentinel abilities a secret. Of course, it might make him a better Sentinel if he could trust John with that secret and extend his senses a little farther without fear of zoning. If John knew himself to be a Guide and had been hiding it intentionally, then he wouldn’t want the secret exposed either, but Rodney doubted that was the situation. Governments didn’t work as hard to identify Guides, and the way John typically hid both his intelligence and his emotions, he probably would have slipped through the cracks without even trying. However, if John was offering to have sex with him, which he almost certainly was given the scent and the way John’s heartbeat was accelerating, then John was already proposing to keep some things secret from at least the US military bureaucracy.

Rodney reached a hand forward and placed it on John’s thigh. He heard John’s sharp intake of breath and then stroked down the front of John’s thigh and up the back until he had a handful of John’s ass. John wiggled that ass back until it was firm up against Rodney’s erection. Rodney would have come instantly if he hadn’t had his sense of touch still dialed to what he thought of as baseline level. Having John wiggle against him like that was so hot. He steadied his other senses as close to baseline as he could and determined to ride this out without zoning or making anything weirder than the situation already was. He still nearly lost it when he slid his hand over John’s cock and it pressed forward into his caress.

Rodney could have savored that first intimate moment for quite a while, but John rolled over with amazing ease given the confines of the box and pulled Rodney into a kiss that pressed the full lengths of their bodies together. There was nothing tentative about that kiss. John’s tongue traced Rodney’s lips and pressed into his mouth. Despite limiting his senses, the taste—so much stronger than with the unintended licking of skin—the taste of John’s tongue in his mouth sent Rodney’s head spinning. He thought he might have fallen down if they were standing, so maybe it was good that they were trapped in a box.

God, it was good. Even if the stories were true and this might tie him to a Guide for life, this was good enough to be worth it. Rodney slid his tongue beneath John’s, feeling John’s pulse and smooth wetness on the tip of his tongue along with an intense, earthy, almost metallic taste. Even with his senses at baseline, Rodney had to force himself away from zoning on that one tiny area of sensation.

John’s cock was fully hard and rubbing beside Rodney’s even as their tongues explored each other. Rodney ran his free hand from John’s ass up his back and then down again stroking between the cheeks, which made John buck up against him. Rodney tried to think of ice and snow to keep from coming too embarrassingly soon. But his thoughts then focused on Antarctica and the day he’d first met John, when he’d thought they’d never work together, so a little harmless ogling didn’t seem out of place. Now, after all this time of telling himself otherwise, it seemed that John reciprocated the attraction after all.

When John finally broke the kiss to allow them both a chance to breathe, Rodney was almost beyond words. Luckily for Rodney McKay, that state never lasted too long.

“I, uh, hate to mention this, but this is going to get messy pretty soon, and if you still believe we’re going to be rescued someday, that might be a little more than embarrassing for you.”

John panted as if he wasn’t quite up to conversation at the moment, and Rodney felt gleefully proud that he could get John that turned on.

John slid his mouth down, kissing Rodney’s neck and then licking his collar bone. Rodney took a deep breath and wondered if John was trying to get low enough to blow him. The thought made him shiver from the base of his spine, even though he knew the geometries were never going to work. The box was just too narrow, but Rodney didn’t care to object if John wanted to try.

Somehow John managed to bring both his hands into play between them and started unzipping Rodney’s jacket. As he did so, his mouth kept finding new areas to lick and nibble, sometimes above Rodney’s shirt, sometimes right through the thin fabric. By the time John had finished with the jacket zipper, he pushed the shirt up and started tonguing Rodney’s nipple in a way that sent fire right to Rodney’s groin. Meanwhile, John had pushed the top jacket sleeve past Rodney’s shoulder so that it mostly trapped the one arm Rodney had previously been able to move.

“Sheppard, please.” Rodney heard his own voice and couldn’t believe the desperation in it.

John made another tight circle with his tongue around Rodney’s nipple that almost undid Rodney, but then he slid back up so his mouth breathed on Rodney’s ear as he whispered. “I can’t get down low enough to take you in my mouth. The best I can think of is to take our clothes off and tuck them up above our heads, hoping we’ll have time to put them on later. If I have to, I can tear my shirt off and use that to clean up a bit, but honestly, I don’t think we’re going to be able to hide this. If it’s just Ronon and Teyla, I’m betting they won’t tell, and I’m willing to risk it. If you want to stop, you should probably tell me now, but I think we might both drive ourselves crazy trying to ignore this.”

It really should have killed the mood. Rodney even thought about what was going to happen with other bodily fluids if they stayed trapped in this smooth, sealed box, which should have really been enough to put him off. No matter what he thought, he couldn’t imagine stopping now. Not with John willing and whispering in his ear beside him. “I still think the odds are no one will rescue us, so we might as well make the best of it. However, I’m not convinced we can get our clothes off in here.”

“Just leave that to me, McKay.”

Then John kissed him to within a breath of passing out and kept kissing down Rodney’s neck and shoulder as Rodney gasped for air. Somehow, he got Rodney’s arm free of the first jacket sleeve even before he took Rodney’s nipple back in his mouth and sent fire racing to every nerve ending. He undid Rodney’s trousers but barely touched his cock, possibly realizing just how close it was to erupting.

-

Rodney reached forward trying to unzip John’s jacket with just one hand. John found the renewed touch surprisingly erotic for just fumbling with a zipper. He couldn’t get over the fact that Rodney was interested at all, let alone this much. John kept his mouth working down the join between Rodney’s neck and chest as he unfastened his own pants and pushed them down with first his hands and then his feet to form a mound of clothes at the bottom of their box.

As Rodney finally managed the jacket zipper, he slid his hand up beneath John’s shirt and stroked in circles that took in both of the hard nubs on John’s chest. John’s cock throbbed in response, and John wondered how they’d both held out this long, continuing to struggle out of their clothes. It vaguely amused him that Rodney had brought up the concern for appearances and “don’t ask don’t tell” when John was the one most at risk if others found out, and yet, wasn’t that how Rodney had always been, seeming unaware of others’ problems until the times when it really mattered? When it mattered, Rodney had always been there for him, and whatever the risks and however much John didn’t want to admit they might die in this box, John wasn’t going to give up this chance with Rodney.

John pulled his own jacket off and pushed it above his head, finally naked except for his shirt. Then he scooted back as far as he could to his wall of the box. Rodney’s fingers pursued him and John caught and kissed them, sucking one into his mouth.

“Take your clothes the rest of the way off first. You should have enough room now.”

Rodney let out a frustrated sigh, then he demonstrated his typical skill under pressure. Despite the tight dimensions around his chest and shoulders, Rodney had his jacket above their heads and his pants and underwear below their feet in moments. Then despite the pitch black of the box he reached unerringly to place one hand on John’s ass and wrap one around John’s cock. The sudden skin on skin made John almost painfully hard, and there must have been a few drops of pre-come, because Rodney ran his fingers tenderly around the tip and smoothed the moisture up and down as he made his first tentative strokes. It was totally hot, but not very experienced.

“Have you done this before?”

“Not since science camp when I was fourteen.”

Rodney’s hands hesitated with the admission, and John said, “Don’t stop.” Then he reached forward to Rodney’s cock and matched the pace until he knew neither of them could take much more, but he wanted to make it special. Even if they were trapped in a box, if this was going to be Rodney’s first time with a man since he’d grown up, then John wanted it to be as good as it could be. He pulled Rodney close until their bodies were pressed together, then he slid one hand between them to stroke both their cocks together. He claimed Rodney’s mouth in a kiss even deeper than he had before, but using what he’d already learned to make it last, to keep Rodney on the edge for as long as he could.

It didn’t last long, both of them wanted it too much. As soon as Rodney started to come, John let himself go, too. He wished he could see the look on Rodney’s face, because something told him it would be amazing. Instead, he just kept stroking, trying for every tremor of pleasure he could generate.

-

Rodney lost all sense of time. He couldn’t believe how long the orgasm lasted with John’s deft fingers pulling their hot cocks through spasm after spasm and his insistent tongue making it almost impossible for Rodney to breath. It wasn’t until he drifted up to something resembling rational thought that Rodney realized a zone then might have passed as simple oxygen deprivation.

But he hadn’t zoned. Nothing bad or strange had happened. It had been amazing, the most amazing sex of Rodney’s life. His normally hyperactive thoughts tried to break through with concerns about the future and what he should tell John, but Rodney felt so good and so relaxed that for once those practical thoughts couldn’t break through. He heard a ripping sound as John tore his shirt and used it to clean up their bodies and the rest of the mess. Then Rodney felt John reach an arm across his chest before they both fell asleep.

-

When Rodney woke up he was sore all over. His back and neck ached from sleeping in the hard box, and his legs felt stiff and restless. At least he was on his back, so he hadn’t trapped an arm under himself to wake up with pins and needles.

John was sleeping on his side, with one arm trapped beneath them and the other still stretched across Rodney’s chest. There just wasn’t room in the box for both of them to lie on their backs or to switch positions easily.

Rodney wanted to stretch. He wanted to reach down and stroke his morning erection, which was getting harder rather than easing away as it would have if he woke up alone and took no action. He wanted to have sex with John again, but he also wanted to put off whatever conversation they probably needed to have first. Some time alone to think would also be good, while he was listing things he couldn’t have right now.

What he did have was John, lying naked next to him, still touching him. The box was reassuringly filled with the smell of John. Rodney could still taste John in his mouth. He could hear John’s breathing and heartbeat, clearly proving the other man was still asleep. Turning his head and dialing up his sight just a little, he could see the outline of John’s face, relaxed and unguarded. There was something different, something that was more than the sum of his senses. If Rodney was willing to believe the stories, he might imagine he’d found a Guide who could help him do more with his Sentinel senses than he’d ever managed on his own.

So without moving, Rodney tried using John’s touch, breathing, and heartbeat to ground himself, and he let his hearing go out farther and farther. He didn’t hear any search parties. He didn’t hear the people who had captured John and him. He didn’t hear any small animals or pests in the walls. Deep in the mountain, he could hear the hum of some sort of power source. He reached farther and thought he heard the wind on the mountainside. It filled him with loneliness, and he pulled his way back to John’s hand on his chest and the breathing and heartbeat right beside him.

Then Rodney lay there, trying to let John sleep as long as possible, and thinking that he’d be able to recognize John’s heartbeat now, if he ever had to find him by that sound alone. What was more, Rodney knew he’d just used his Sentinel senses at a level far beyond what he could do on his own. It was awesome. His senses could finally reach the level of genius his thinking could, and he knew it was because he’d taken John as his Guide. Now what would John think about that?

John soon woke with a groan, and Rodney guessed his uncomfortable position had finally caught up to him. Rodney scooted onto his side up against the wall of the box and said, “You can stretch a bit if you want to.”

“Yeah.” John stretched, and Rodney dialed his vision up to watch. Even with his arms at his sides, when John stretched out long his pointed toes reached to the end of the box, to the heap of clothes they’d shoved there. John rolled to his stomach, pressing his morning erection under himself but giving Rodney a great view of his ass. John shook his right arm, the one that had been pressed under his body all night. Rodney now had his own left arm mostly pinned, but he reached out his right to rub along John’s spine, doing the best he could to massage sore muscles without much room to work, or much practice.

John gave a contented sigh, which encouraged Rodney to keep massaging. He wanted to slide down and massage John’s gorgeous ass as well, but he hesitated, not wanting to seem too much like a sex starved teenager.

“So, what are we going to do today?” John asked sounding more than a little like a sex starved teenager himself.

“I don’t think anyone’s coming to rescue us.”

John rolled over and rubbed his hands across his face. “Give it time. Enjoy the in flight entertainment.”

Rodney pulled his hands back to his side of the box. “Sheppard, there’s something you should probably know.”

“Look, if you’re going to give me the one-time thing speech, then we can just skip it. I’ve been a gay guy in the military for a long time, and while I usually avoid one-night stands, I understand the whole thinking you’re about to die thing.”

Rodney felt like a stone had just been pressed into his chest, pressed on his lungs, making it hard to breathe.

“That wasn’t what I was going to say, unless that’s how you want to see this.”

“Oh, no, never mind then.” Despite the calm words, the expression that lit up John’s face made Rodney extremely glad that he could see in the box. John’s smile had never looked so real, his half closed eyes so pleased. Rodney suspected John wouldn’t have been so unguarded if he hadn’t thought they were living in pitch black, but he hoped John wouldn’t mind once he heard what Rodney had to say. He had to make himself say it, and he had to do it now before he let John’s body distract him.

“Anyway, you sort of took it on faith last night that I’d at least try to keep what happened secret from your ridiculous puritanical bureaucracy. And I will, no matter what, I’m not trying to make any deal. I just thought you should know—”

It was going to be the first time he’d told anyone, the first time he’d spoken the word aloud, and he knew if he didn’t go through with it now, he probably never would.

“I’m a Sentinel, not like some pathetic one that needs a Guide, as is probably obvious from my generally amazing work performance and the way I’ve saved everyone in Atlantis several times over. But, well, some of the propaganda might be true, about doing better with someone to ground me or someone to bring me back from a zone out, if that ever happens, which it probably never will, but with all the unbelievable things we run into out here in the Pegasus Galaxy, I thought maybe you should know.”

-

Rodney’s confession, even more than the sex last night, made John wonder if he might be dreaming, or hallucinating, or was caught up in one of the other unbelievable things that they did seem to run into rather often. He didn’t know that much about Sentinels, but what he thought he knew about them didn’t fit at all with what he knew about Rodney McKay. Still, Rodney was able to manage other things that John wouldn’t have expected from anyone else he’d ever met, so if this did turn out to be real and Rodney was a Sentinel, then John could accept that. He said, “Okay.”

“Okay, good,” Rodney still sounded a bit flustered. “That means you won’t tell, right?”

John rolled onto his side so he was facing Rodney, even if he couldn’t actually see the man. “Of course, Rodney. Don’t worry about it.”

-

Rodney was so amazed by how easy it all was, by hearing John use his first name and act like this sort of trust was just natural between them, that he leaned forward and kissed John. Maybe he didn’t know what to do as well as John did, but John let him explore, and it got better and better as they went on. When they finally pulled apart to breathe, John’s comment was, “So you can see where my mouth is?”

-

Rodney giggled, a little, and John found he liked the sound.

“Okay then, I have an experiment to run,” Rodney began. “If I increase my hearing and tap around the box, I might be able to tell if there’s something holding it shut outside, maybe I could even hear echoes in the room around us. Possibly it won’t work, since I’ve been afraid to experiment that much before. I think with you here to anchor me, I’ll be alright, but if I zone, you could try whispering to me, or touching me, or if all else fails, I think a kiss might bring me back from anywhere.”

“And if you don’t zone, I can try all those anyway, right?” John whispered into Rodney’s ear.

Rodney shivered. “Only you could make a lifelong secret into something to joke about within minutes of me telling you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Then Rodney started fidgeting around, trying to position himself for his experiment, and John recognized the Rodney he’d always known in the length of time the repositioning took and how self-absorbed Rodney seemed, even with no instruments to adjust and just the two of them in a smooth, hard box.

Finally, Rodney was still and started tapping, pausing between each tap, working his way across the lid, and then sides, of the box.

John tried to stay silent and still even after Rodney finished tapping. They’d ended up with Rodney mostly on his back, left arm folded across his own chest with John lying pressed along Rodney’s left side. John could feel Rodney’s breathing and wondered if that would change if Rodney zoned. In the pitch dark, he couldn’t even tell if Rodney’s eyes were open or closed. He could run his hand across Rodney’s face if he stayed still too long, but would eyes stay open and unblinking in a zone? Even if Rodney could see in the box, it was possible he’d closed his eyes to focus on what he was hearing.

Trying to think back to what he knew about Sentinels, John pictured a Sentinel soldier with hearing dialed up being startled by loud gunfire and then standing frozen, an easy target if some Guide didn’t pull the man down or bring him out of the zone. But other than suggesting that a loud noise would be bad right now, John wasn’t sure if what he knew could help him much. Rodney wasn’t moving anyway and didn’t seem to be in any immediate danger here. John had no idea how a Guide would stop a Sentinel from zoning. Sentinels were extremely rare, and John had never thought much about them. He would have said he’d never met one, but now he knew he had. Rodney, who was lying beside him, trusting him to keep his secret and save him with a whisper, a touch, or a kiss if needed, was the only Sentinel John needed to know anything about. He would always bring Rodney back, from a zone or anyplace else.

Just then, Rodney let out a long breath and started talking, so John figured it had all worked out.

“I didn’t find anything new about the box. It seemed like I could hear the echoes well enough, but maybe I’m doing something wrong, because the rest of what I heard didn’t make sense. There weren’t any other echoes until the walls of the room, but we saw the other boxes when they brought us in, and I would have heard if they’d dragged them away. Unless the box is soundproof, but it can’t be if light is getting through, unless the gap in the seals is tiny and the higher energy of light waves matters, but it’s not, so it doesn’t. But if I can hear the shape of this box with echoes, and I can hear the shape of the room, why not anything else? Could it be none of the other boxes were real?”

-

Instantly, the lid of the box sprang open. Rodney closed his eyes at the sudden light, even though he’d thought his vision was at baseline. He felt John throw himself out of the box, and Rodney opened his eyes and sat up enough to see John in a defensive crouch on the floor in front of the box. Of course, John was completely naked, so Rodney’s reaction wasn’t quite as professional as it should have been.

The room was empty except for their box. The walls were exactly where Rodney had heard them and matched his memory of the day before, but all the other boxes were gone.

Not seeing any immediate threat, and feeling a little less commando than John, Rodney started to pull his pants and underwear back on.

A naked black shadow of a man appeared in front of John. Rodney had brought his hearing back to just about normal, but something in the method of appearance and lack of sound made Rodney believe it was a hologram. He dialed his hearing up enough to confirm that the shadow figure had no heart beat and made no other noises. Probably the other boxes had been holograms, too. From the shape and build of the black shadow, not to mention its nakedness, Rodney suspected someone had scanned John’s dimensions and was attempting to appear in a familiar form, a little too familiar as far as Rodney was concerned.

If John noticed that the shadow was modeled on him, he didn’t give any sign of it. He glanced at Rodney, but it was a quick military assessment sort of glance while John held his body ready to fight.

Then the shadow said, “You have scored well on our evaluation, but we wish you to clarify two matters.” The voice wasn’t at all like John’s, and Rodney found it unpleasantly grating.

“Not much in a clarifying mood right now,” John said. “How about telling me who you are and why your people put us in that box?”

“We wish to know why you want your sexual activity kept secret and why he,” the shadow nodded toward Rodney, “wants his Sentinel abilities kept secret from your people.”

John seemed to pull himself a little taller and hold his arms a little wider when the shadow looked Rodney’s way and mentioned his secret. Rodney thought whoever had described Sentinels as protective had never met John Sheppard. However, caught with his pants halfway up and being treated as an observer in the conversation anyway, Rodney lay back down and quickly fastened himself up.

He heard John say, “Why should we tell you anything?”

“Because then we’ll let you and your companions leave.”

“What’s happening to our _companions_ right now?”

“They’re still in a box. We have no further questions for them.”

John looked at Rodney and shrugged. By now Rodney was pulling his jacket back on and gathering John’s clothes in case they needed to leave in a hurry. He shrugged back, thinking he’d really like to get out of there so he could use a bathroom.

“Okay, fine, but you promised to let us all go.” John gestured toward the shadow as if expecting some sign of agreement, but when the shadow stood still, John continued. “The military where I come from doesn’t want to know if two guys have sex, so we don’t tell and they don’t ask. As far as Sentinels, our governments have some laws about how they should be identified, trained, and work with someone else who’s trained to help them. But McKay didn’t want to do things that way and doesn’t always get along with people who try to help him or tell him what to do, so we’re going to keep that quiet, too.”

John waited. The shadow didn’t say or do anything, and then it disappeared. “Hey, you promised to let us go.”

As John looked around the room belligerently, Rodney handed over his clothes. “Maybe they’re giving you time to get dressed, or maybe they expect us to make our own way out of here.”

“Well, if you put it that way…”

“The shadow knows.”

John rolled his eyes then dressed while continuing to glance around the room. Rodney increased his hearing a bit, and he climbed out of the box. The dirty tee shirt John had used to clean them up was balled in one corner of the box, but Rodney saw no reason to retrieve it. John was just zipping his jacket over his bare chest when Rodney heard footsteps approaching in the hall outside.

“They’re coming.”

John ran to take a position by the door and motioned Rodney to stand behind him. “Do you hear Ronon and Teyla?”

“No,” Rodney said. Then he placed a hand on John’s side and listened a little harder. “There’s another set of footsteps farther away. Probably not Ronan and Teyla, but they could be going to get them.”

John was ready to jump whoever came through the door, but as with when they were captured, a sudden buzzing noise seemed to freeze their bodies like statues. Rodney dialed his hearing down reflexively. Four robed figures came through the door and two unceremoniously carried Rodney while the other two took John, manhandling them like the statuary they appeared to be. They were carried through all the corridors they’d passed through on their way in, but now each room they passed held only a single box. Some of the boxes were larger than others, but everything else they’d seen had been an illusion.

Soon after the robed men deposited their still frozen bodies on the floor of the gate room, another set of robed figured arrived and deposited Ronon and Teyla. Then all the people in robes left, and the wall sealed behind them as if there had never been a door. There was another buzzing sound and all four team members could move again.

“Are you okay?” John asked the other two.

While they answered, Rodney moved to where a heap of their belonging had been placed by the gate. He checked to find his own boots and gladly slipped them on. Suddenly, having four people in the room seemed like too many.

“Please leave now,” said the voice of the shadow person who had talked to them before. There was no holographic shadow person to accompany it this time.

“Is that McKay’s voice?” Teyla asked.

Just as Rodney was saying, “no,” John was saying, “They just copied it to communicate with us. Did anyone communicate with you?”

Teyla was shaking her head already as Rodney said, “I do not sound like that.”

All three of his teammates looked at him, John with the single raised eyebrow that meant he’d probably said something stupid.

“No, really?” Rodney asked.

The other’s ignored him as they strapped on weapons and boots, and then they dialed the gate and walked through.

* * *

It was nearly midnight when Rodney gave in and made his way to John’s office. He’d planned to keep working in his lab until John quit for the night, but he hadn’t gotten that much sleep the night before in their box, and truth be told, his new situation with John was too distracting. Several times during his very busy day of catching other people’s mistakes, he’d found himself tuning in to John’s heartbeat or voice, wherever John was in Atlantis. It involved a level of control Rodney wouldn’t have risked for fear of zoning before, and now it had happened several times without a conscious thought. Rodney was torn between excitement about becoming the genius Sentinel he’d always expected himself to be and worry that John was avoided him, either because of the sex or the Sentinel business. Rodney had to know where he stood with John, and besides, he missed touching and smelling and tasting him too much to let this go.

When he reached the doorway to John’s office, he saw John leaning forward on his desk, head resting in his hands, clearly asleep. “Hey, sleepy head, time to get up?”

“Huh, I’m not asleep.”

“Sure.” Rodney could see the imprinted shapes of each finger where his face had been resting as John looked up bleary eyed. “Come on.”

“I need to finish the mission report.”

“Tonight?” Rodney’s stomach flip-flopped as he wondered if John was going to brush him off. Maybe he’d had second thoughts after they’d both survived, once again. Maybe he wanted it to be a casual, once in a while thing.

John raised his eyebrows to mock-glare at Rodney, and it eased Rodney’s fears as he heard John’s heartbeat race. He had a new appreciation for what those looks from John must have always meant and somewhat regretted how rarely he’d risked expanding his senses.

John stretched in his chair, and his back cracked loudly enough that Rodney suspected even normal hearing would pick it up. Then John stood and followed Rodney out the door. Not knowing what else to do, Rodney led the way silently to his room.

When they were both inside and the door closed, Rodney turned to face John, and when the man just stood there, Rodney kissed him. It started out a tentative brush of lips, but John responded, pulling Rodney in close, nibbling his lower lip, and then licking it. That was enough to send a liquid sensation throughout Rodney’s body, but John pulled back.

“I meant to plan something, something much better than in the box, but I haven’t had time yet.”

Rodney stared at John, amazed that he’d even thought about planning anything. “Right, you’ll be great with the hearts and flowers. Lie down, and I’ll give you a back rub.”

John raised a single eyebrow.

Rodney said, “What? I heard your back crack. I can see you’re sore and tense. Even if I’m not very good at this stuff now, I’m a genius, I can learn.”

John shrugged with a smile that threatened to melt through Rodney all over again. Then he kicked off his shoes and threw himself face down on Rodney’s bed.

Rodney went to the edge of the bed beside him and reached out to rub John’s shoulders. They relaxed a little at his touch, and the loosening and warmth spread into Rodney’s hands.

“Go ahead and straddle me.”

“I wasn’t trying to—“

“It’ll be better, trust me.”

_Trust me._ The words echoed in Rodney’s mind, both what he wanted and what he wasn’t sure he could manage. Rodney sat himself gingerly across John’s gorgeous ass, trying not to let his own physical reactions distract him. Expanding his senses of touch and hearing just a little, Rodney tuned into John’s body, to figure out how John liked to be touched. He experimented at the shoulders until he found a firm pressing motion with his palms that seemed to dig deeply into the muscles and slow John’s breathing and heartbeat. Then he slid his palms gently down beside John’s spine and earned a sigh, then climbed up with his finger finding the little knots where muscles were tense. It was good being able to hear when John was relaxing and feel where sore spots were, but every couple of minutes it seemed like John would tense for no reason. The fourth or fifth time it happened Rodney asked, “What’s that?”

“Just thinking. I’ll try not to.”

“Tell me.”

John sighed and remained tense even as Rodney ran his hands warmly back up to John’s shoulders.

“It’s something to do with me, isn’t it?”

“Always, buddy. Always about you.”

Rodney tried to keep doing his best for John’s shoulders, but the comment made him nervous.

“I don’t suppose you have any massage oil or anything?” John asked.

“No, but I have some good hand lotion, if you want to take your shirt off.”

“You can take it off.” John wiggled his ass as he said it, and Rodney’s cock reacted as expected. Rodney was already thinking of it as John’s signature ass wiggle.

Rodney gathered the bottom edge of John’s shirt and slowly slid it up his back and then over his shoulders and arms as John obligingly stretched out. Rodney watched the muscles he’d been touching in fascination. Even with his sight at baseline, the ripple and stretch of them was mesmerizing. He leaned down and kissed John’s shoulder, but rather than react to the shiver that produced, he eased away saying, “Let me get some lotion.”

He was back and in position within a minute, but he could hear and feel John’s increased anxiety even before he touched him. “John, I can’t make you talk, but whatever is making you stressed is making me nervous.”

Rodney squirted lotion onto his hand as he waited for John to reply. The coldness of the lotion startled him, and he made sure to warm it between his hands before applying it in large lazy circles to John’s back. John’s muscles started to relax again, but his heartbeat sped up and up until John said, “I don’t know what to put in the mission report. I just can’t do it.”

“Bit late for second thoughts.”

John tried to give Rodney a careless slap on the knee. The angle was wrong, and Rodney could tell from John’s heartbeat that it wasn’t as causal as John wanted it to seem. “It’s fine to ignore everything that went on in the box, but I have a feeling our conversation with that shadow person may come back to bite us in the butt someday.”

Paperwork—Rodney felt his own body relax as he realized that John was stressed out about paperwork and not about what actually happened. Even if what had changed between them was still part of the issue, Rodney felt a warm swell of relief to know it wasn’t the main issue.

John spoke again, but his muscles stayed relaxed as Rodney rubbed, trusting Rodney to share the burden perhaps. “Since Ronon and Teyla know that we’d been questioned before by your voice, there has to be some explanation of what happened.”

“You think whoever questioned us might be powerful or important?”

“Their technology was really up there, wasn’t it? They pretty much controlled the situation and acted like they might follow up.”

“Might be twenty or two thousand years from now.”

“Like we’d be so lucky.”

“Who do you think they are?”

“Some Galactic Freedom of Information Society or maybe the Church of the Honest Fuck. Who knows?”

 “Okay. We can work this out,” Rodney said as he pressed again into John’s shoulders. John must have believed him, because his heartbeat stopped racing and headed back down to normal. “What if you write that a holographic shadow asked us what people avoided talking about in our culture. We can admit to saying our culture has constraints on talking about feelings and sex, and it could seem like Ronon and Teyla weren’t asked either because you were presumed to speak for all of us or because they’d been identified as coming from different cultures, so their conversation was analyzed differently.”

“You don’t think Elizabeth will want more specifics?” John managed to ask without tensing up or increasing heart rate, and Rodney thought that meant the conversation and massage were going well.

“Like you’ve never had that problem before?” Rodney teased. He found a spot near the small of John’s back that reacted well to little circles made with Rodney’s knuckle. “I think I could be a genius masseuse, too.”

“Lucky me,” John said. Then with a slight increase in heart rate he said, “I wouldn’t mind if you massaged a little lower.”

Rodney slid back so he was straddling John’s thighs. He reached beneath John to unfasten his fly and then dragged John’s pants and briefs down to uncover his gorgeous ass. He slid the trousers the rest of the way off, snagging the socks as well, and then he dug his fingers into John’s ass cheeks. If the accelerating heartbeat hadn’t been enough of a signal, Rodney also caught the scent of John’s arousal and found himself suddenly hard but uncertain of what to do next.

As if he could read his mind, John said, “What do you want to do now, Rodney?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t really had that much experience.”

“I know, you hadn’t been with a guy since science camp. But what sort of stuff do you like in general?”

Rodney felt his own erection start to flag and his heartbeat race as he wondered how honest to be. “I just haven’t really done much in general.”

John rolled beneath him, bringing his erection front and center right in front of Rodney. Then dusky eyes searched Rodney’s face before sliding down the rest of his body. “You are wearing way too much clothing.” John sat up in one fluid motion that pressed his cock up against Rodney and left Rodney pretty much sitting in John’s lap. Then he kissed Rodney with a thoroughness reminiscent of how Rodney had given his back rub, as if John were focused entirely on Rodney and what made Rodney react.

By the time John’s tongue had explored every crevice of Rodney’s mouth, Rodney didn’t have enough brain cells online to speak.

-

John looked at the stunned scientist and realized sex with Rodney, even back rubs with Rodney, might be more than just fun. He didn’t need to ask if Rodney was actually a virgin, whatever the man had experienced before had clearly been nowhere near enough. John wanted to give Rodney everything, to make sure he’d never be uncertain about what he liked or wanted in the future, but he also wanted to take it slow and make it last. They might not have the supplies he’d need here. For tonight, he decided to show Rodney all the wonderful things a mouth could do.

He pushed the incoherent Rodney back onto his bed, kissed him thoroughly until he squirmed and mewled, and then John removed all of Rodney’s clothes. He worked his way down, exploring every inch of skin with his lips and tongue. Rodney was incredibly reactive not just by his collar bone and nipples, which John had figured out the night before, but inside his elbows, along the sides of his ribs, his bellybutton, and the path of hair that led downward.

John bypassed Rodney’s cock for the time being, ignoring a groan and upward thrust as he licked the line between Rodney’s groin and thigh and then lifted Rodney’s legs to kiss each of his ass cheeks. He loved the fact that Rodney showed no body-consciousness or hesitation even when John licked his asshole and poked his tongue the tiniest way in. If anything, John had to stop because Rodney was reacting so beautifully, skin flushing and cock thrusting into the air, but John wanted to finish exploring at least the front of Rodney’s body before things came to an end, and he didn’t think either of them would have the strength tonight for seconds.

He licked and nibbled his way down Rodney’s inner thigh while sliding a hand around his hip, under his ass, and down to his knee. Then he exhaled hot breath across the hair on Rodney’s calves and watched him shiver. When he reached Rodney’s feet he tongued along the arch and then circled each toe and watched how Rodney practically danced, on the edge between ticklish and erotic reactions. He sucked on Rodney’s toes and watched Rodney’s cock press up in anticipation. Finally he relented and made his way back to nibble at the tip of Rodney’s cock.

“John, I’m going to come.”

John was surprised the scientist was able to speak, but then again, Rodney was a genius, and a very talkative one most of the time. “In a minute.”

“I want to blow you, too, at the same time.”

John hadn’t expected that request, but his cock, which had stayed at least semi-erect ever since the amazing back rub, enthusiastically supported the idea. So John arranged himself above Rodney so they could both get to what they wanted. He had planned to deep throat Rodney but figured Rodney would follow his lead and that might be too tricky for tonight, so he began by fondling Rodney’s balls as he sucked on the crown and then slid his hand up and down the base of Rodney’s cock as he sucked slowly lower and lower. Rodney did a surprisingly good job with John’s cock, and John had to concentrate on keeping things slow until he was fairly sure Rodney couldn’t take much more. The scientist twitched and shivered beneath him, and John picked up the pace until Rodney reached a crashing orgasm and John went over the edge in sympathetic reaction.

As soon as John could think again and had given Rodney a last few appreciative licks, he turned himself around and gathered Rodney in his arms, Rodney’s arm and head resting on John’s chest.

They slept like that for a couple of hours, but when John woke up chilly and the clock read past two, he knew what he had to do. He slid out from under Rodney’s arm and folded the covers back over Rodney. “I should go to my room, Rodney, but you can meet me there, tomorrow, after dinner.”

Rodney’s eyes fluttered, and John hoped he was awake enough to remember or at least know John hadn’t snuck out. He kissed Rodney by the corner of one eye before he dressed and headed back to his room.

* * *

It was just before dinner when Rodney became aware of John’s heartbeat again. He had a new theory that some part of his mind kept track of John all day, but that Rodney most often became aware of it when John changed locations, especially in a way that might be of interest. Right now, John seemed to be coming his way, perhaps to pull him out for dinner? He’d said they could get together after dinner, and Rodney had been looking forward to it all day.

Rodney turned his hearing up a bit to find out if anyone was walking or talking with John. Just then there was a loud BOOM. Rodney covered his ears and cringed, but felt his thoughts spiraling into darkness and his body going rigid.

-

John was happily walking toward Rodney’s lab, trying to look as casual as people expected him to, when he heard the explosion, nearby but down a level. He rushed toward it without thinking even before the radio call came with the precise location.

Sheppard pulled his gun as he drew near, just in case there was enemy action or sabotage involved. He rounded a corner with his weapon ready, and found himself confronting a smoking piece of machinery. Two men from a security patrol were lying unconscious on the ground.

Sheppard tapped his radio, “Need a medical unit, now, and McKay, you better come look at this.”

Weir called through, “What’s the status, Sheppard?”

“Two men down, appears to be an equipment malfunction.”

Teyla and Ronon arrived just before the medical team. “Where’s McKay?” John said loudly to the group at large.

Surprisingly, Beckett was the one who replied, as he and his team kneeled by the men on the ground. “He’s in the infirmary, fainted or something, but dinna appear to have anything serious wrong with him.”

“What? When? Why wasn’t I told?”

“Seems to have happened with the explosion, and you called us away right after. McKay’s lying down. He’ll be fine.”

John didn’t like it. Every instinct told him to run to McKay, but duty kept him where he was. He tapped his radio again, “Zelenka, can you come down here and evaluate a piece of sparking machinery?”

“I’m with McKay in the infirmary, sir.”

“Teyla,” John said, “Go sit with Rodney. Hold his hand or something, and tell Zelenka I need him here.”

Teyla’s eyes stayed on John a moment longer than he liked, but then she left at speed, and all John could hope was that he’d made the right call.

Once Zelenka came, he took thirty seconds to scan the machine before calling down two more scientists and loads of equipment. By that time Beckett’s team was removing the two downed crewmen.

“I want a report on both of them and McKay as soon as possible.”

“Aye, Colonel.”

“Ronon, check the rest of this passage for any other signs of trouble.”

Ronon headed out, and John found himself standing, watching as more scientists arrived and did things he couldn’t help with. And McKay wasn’t there, which was wrong on so many levels.

Finally, Ronon returned, reporting no further signs of damage, and Zelenka looked up saying, “Colonel, could you try activating this for us?”

John reached out and touched the no longer smoking machine and thought it on. It hummed with no smoke or loud noises, and Zelenka nodded in approval.

John called Weir, “The machine seems to be functioning again. No further signs of damage, and I’m heading up to the infirmary.”

“Understood, Colonel.”

John took the steps two at a time with Ronon close behind him. He reached the infirmary and saw Beckett and the others busy with the two security men, but he couldn’t help going to McKay first.

McKay was in a room with glass windows just off the end of the main room where Beckett worked. Teyla was sitting, holding his hand, but McKay was pale and clearly unconscious. John rushed in with Ronon still on his heels and took McKay’s other hand, turning his back to the windows and the commotion in the main room. When McKay didn’t react, John said to Teyla and Ronon, “Give me a moment here.”

Teyla gave him another searching look, but John hardly noticed. As soon as they’d left the room, John leaned down close to Rodney’s face, holding his hand and stroking in circles with his thumb. He whispered, “Come on, McKay. Come back to me if you can hear me, feel me, smell me or whatever. I’ll kiss you right here if I need to, but I think it would be better for us both to save that for later.”

Rodney’s eyes opened, and John wanted to kiss him anyway. Only long practice held him back.

“What happened? Was it a zone?” John said it in barely a whisper, but McKay looked panicked at the word anyway. “Easy, easy. What do you need me to do?”

“Just stay a minute. Keep talking. Tell me what happened.”

“Some machinery blew one level below your lab, knocked out the two security guys in there. I don’t know if they touched it or if they got close because it was already misbehaving, but no one had called anything in. I heard the explosion just as I was coming to find you for dinner. I had to stay down there even after I found out you were here. I sent Teyla, but she couldn’t help you.” John ran out of words, but Rodney was looking much better. He had color back in his face.

“It’s enough. Thanks.”

“What now?”

“Can you get me some water? And maybe get me out of here?”

“I live to serve.” John walked out of the room, putting his calm swagger on like a costume. He smiled to Teyla and Ronon. “McKay’s fine. Can you find him some water while I check on the rest?”

Beckett’s end of the room seemed to have calmed considerably while John was in with Rodney. Both of the security men were conscious now with lots of beeping machines and monitors hooked up to them. “Looking good, Beckett?”

“Aye, they were lucky,” Beckett said with a lecturing gaze at his patients. “Have to teach our security patrols not to touch equipment that’s sending out sparks, but they’ll both be fine.”

“McKay’s fine, too, and would like to get out of here.”

“I’d rather keep him for observation overnight. It’s probably nothing, but he shouldn’t be on his own.”

“What if I set up a movie night, get him fed and keep an eye on him? You know he’ll just complain the whole time if you keep him here.”

“Aye, that’s the truth of it. Fine, I’ll have someone check him out.”

“Also, Beckett, I want to be notified immediately in the future if any member of my team is brought here.”

Beckett gave him much the same look Teyla had, but answered, “Yes, sir.”

It took a little while to get Rodney checked out and to explain to Teyla and Ronon that McKay needed a quiet evening with just a two person movie night and dinner brought in. But finally, John had McKay settled on the couch in John’s quarters with a huge plate of food and a private evening ahead.

“What happened, McKay?”

“I zoned. You figured it out.” McKay shoved his mouth full of food to avoid further questions, or maybe just because that was how he usually ate.

“You implied that didn’t happen to you, or only in extreme situations.”

Rodney’s eyebrows scrunched in concentration, as if his food might try to escape, but finally he said. “Something’s different now, with you in the equation, like maybe some of it’s true about bonding with a Guide. I keep hearing your heartbeat at odd moments during the day, and I know where you are and could probably tune in on what you’re saying if I tried.”

“Were you trying when that thing exploded?”

Rodney nodded and failed to take another bite of food.

“I think Teyla and Ronon and maybe even Beckett already suspect something. Our secrets won’t last long if this happens much more.”

“I’ll be careful. I’ll recalibrate to whatever’s happening between us and this won’t happen again. But maybe, someday if you need to tell one of them, about my part at least, that might be okay.”

“Yeah, I think we could trust them, if that time comes one way or another. For now, I don’t really like the idea of you listening in on my conversations anyway.”

“Fair enough.”

Rodney looked so miserable, hunched in on himself and not even eating his food that John felt terrible right along with him. Then Rodney said, “I think it actually steadies me to hear your heartbeat sometimes and know you’re okay. If I can make that work without zoning, do you mind if I sort of know where you are?”

John did mind. He wasn’t used to anyone keeping tabs on him that way. Then he remembered telling Beckett to notify him if anyone on his team was brought in, and how he’d felt when he’d first heard Rodney was in the infirmary. “Yeah, I can live with that. Now tell me honestly, are you okay now?”

“If I admitted to having a fairly bad headache, would that mean we couldn’t have sex tonight?”

John rolled his eyes, “How about I get you a headache pill, you eat your dinner, and we see how you feel after a movie?”

Rodney happily went back to gobbling his food, and John went in the bathroom to find headache meds. Then they cuddled through a movie and John managed to distract Rodney so completely that he didn’t criticize the incorrect science during the whole second half.

-

Between the medicine and John’s hands all over his body, Rodney escaped the after effects of his worst zone out ever and managed to stop kicking himself for being so stupid. Instead, he was left wondering how John could know so well where to touch him without the advantage of heightened senses. John seemed to pick up immediately on what felt best, and Rodney had never imagined someone could be or would even want to be that attentive to his body. He wondered if it was something to do with John becoming his Guide, and he wondered if John was really okay with that.

Rodney ended the movie with his back leaning against John’s chest, his ass resting between John’s thighs, and both of John’s hands under his shirt.

“How do you feel now?” John whispered in his ear.

“Wonderful,” Rodney answered, trying to press his body even closer to John’s.

“Headache gone?”

“Completely.”

In the silence that followed, John pulled off Rodney’s shirt, and Rodney wanted to turn around and return the favor, but John just held him close and stroked his chest. It was somewhere between a massage and flirtation, and Rodney was getting a little anxious for more.

“You know,” John said, “there are things we should have talked about before starting this. I gather from what you said that you haven’t been with anyone since coming to Atlantis, and I know we all had extremely thorough health checks before and since.” Rodney nodded, turning his head against John’s shoulder. “Well in case you want to know, I haven’t been with anyone since we reached Atlantis either and also have a completely clean bill of health. I figured I should tell you, even if you could probably hack that out of the system if you wanted to.”

Rodney was surprised for a moment that he hadn’t thought of checking. It was the sort of eminently reasonable caution he was constantly being derided for, at least when anyone found out. In this case, he hadn’t worried. Either his Sentinel reactions to John had known it was safe, or he’d been stupidly distracted by physical desires as so many other idiots before him. That and the zone out should have him worried, but it was so hard to worry here in John’s arms.

Then John pulled Rodney to the bed, pushed the covers off, and lay Rodney down. He removed Rodney’s pants as Rodney was trying to remove John’s shirt, but somehow Rodney ended up completely naked, and John ended up pulling his own clothes off. Rodney watched in appreciation, and when he saw John’s cock burst out of his pants, he figured it really didn’t matter who removed all those pesky clothes; what mattered was getting to the skin underneath.

“What happens if you increase your sense of touch Rodney? Will it make it better for you?”

“Maybe. I don’t want to zone, or come too soon.”

“Try it with me, Rodney, however much you think you can take without zoning. I promise I’ll be right here to bring you back if you need me. And I plan to make you come twice, so too soon won’t be a problem.”

“Okay, but nothing too sudden, and I want to explore you more, too.”

“Bossy, bossy.” John smiled, and the words didn’t sound negative at all. “Explore all you want, and nothing too sudden, I promise.” Then he lay down beside Rodney and started a slow kiss covering Rodney’s mouth as his hand traced down Rodney’s side. Rodney dialed up his sense of touch and reached out to explore John’s neck and chest, the surprisingly soft skin and springy curls. His tongue pushed against John’s lips and into John’s mouth. The taste of John was like coming home, and Rodney realized he could potentially zone on other senses besides touch, even if he tried to keep the others at baseline. It was tricky, and for a moment he didn’t think he could appreciate John’s hand, which was now stroking his ass in a way that sent nerves firing all across his skin, while taking in information from his own over-sensitive fingers and his tongue, which was playing some sort of turn taking game with John’s. Then somehow it all fell into place. Rodney could feel himself drifting on all the sensations, but he wasn’t going to zone.

Rodney slid one of his hands to John’s backside as John pulled their bodies closer together, and in the first moment when Rodney’s cock brushed John’s body, Rodney startled and thought he was going to come or zone or something. Then somehow everything he was feeling just picked up a new, tingly focus, and Rodney slid his hand along John’s ass in a way that made John squirm up against him. Rodney could feel himself climbing closer and closer to orgasm, and John evidently felt it, too, because he slid down and very slowly sucked Rodney’s cock into his mouth, deeper and deeper, while his hands were doing amazing, distracting things to Rodney’s ass and nipples. Rodney held on as long as he could while all the sensation threatened to rip him apart, and then he was coming, deep into John’s throat, and John was swallowing like he wanted it all and would keep Rodney there forever.

Rodney was drifting, and he heard John’s very quiet whisper saying, “Rodney, you still with me?”

He managed to nod, and John said, “God, that was so hot. You have no idea how gorgeous you are right now with your skin flushed and sweaty and that goofy look on your face.”

Rodney smiled more, not even caring how goofy he looked, so long as John liked it.

Then John slid up over Rodney, grabbing his wrists and trapping them both together above Rodney’s head. Without thinking, Rodney tensed, and his eyes opened wide. He knew people did stuff like this and that John was just playing, but Rodney’s heart started pounding and he felt empty and scared inside. He couldn’t speak or move.

He saw the moment when John’s face change from lover to team member, and John let go of his wrists and pulled back to sitting, straddled over Rodney.

“It’s okay.” John set his hand, firm and warm on Rodney’s stomach. The fingers were spread open, and Rodney could feel the outline of skin on skin, but John wasn’t moving or flirting now. “I should have guessed, after all the times you’ve been restrained on missions.” John reached carefully forward and kissed each of Rodney’s wrists. “Is there anything else you don’t want me to do?”

“I’ll be fine. Don’t stop.”

John visibly relaxed but started shaking his head. “Seriously, McKay, you have highly developed skills for complaining. Use them. I want you to tell me if there’s anything you don’t like. Whether we never try it or just wait until we know each other better. If it’s some Sentinel stuff or just your own preferences, you have to let me know.”

“When did you become the serious, talkative one?” Rodney asked, completely overwhelmed by the concern written across John’s face. But the serious look evaporated the moment Rodney mentioned it.

“When you dissolved into putty in my hands.” John said with a wink, as he rolled Rodney’s nipple between his thumb and forefinger to make his point. Rodney felt himself dissolving.

John nibbled Rodney’s ear, and started to slowly rub their cocks together. John was hard and warm and Rodney felt himself starting to respond again. John took his time, keeping the pace mostly slow and then speeding things up for just a few moments. He kissed around Rodney’s neck and face with only occasional deep forays into Rodney’s mouth.

After what seemed like a long while, John whispered in his ear, “It was really hot when you let me put my mouth all over you yesterday. How would you feel if I wanted to fuck you?”

Rodney’s cock twitched to semi-hard just hearing John whisper about it. “Um, sounds good. Please, John, I want more.”

“Somehow, I thought Canadians would be more uptight.”

“You want to get into a discussion of the U.S. moral majority, antiquated legal precedents, and oh yeah, military policies?”

“Definitely.” Then John fucked Rodney’s mouth with his tongue until Rodney couldn’t think in words, let alone say any.

Rodney couldn’t remember when he’d lost track of John’s hands, but still deep in the kiss he felt John’s slick finger circle around his hole. Whatever lubricant John had put on it had warmed to the temperature of John’s hand, which still felt cool against the part John was touching but sent burning sensations along the nerves beneath. Then John pressed gently a couple of times, and the finger poked inside Rodney. For just a moment it hurt, but then a whole world of touch Rodney had never experienced opened up to him, and he knew what it felt like to be touched from the inside.

Rodney was taking it all in with his sense of touch more sensitive than he ever would have thought to allow, and it was like all the touch he’d missed for years came settling in on him at once. John seemed to wait for some illusory signal that Rodney didn’t know he was sending, but just when Rodney was ready for more, Jon moved to kiss his shoulder and slid his finger in farther. Rodney felt the bend of John’s first knuckle and then each ridge of John’s second knuckle entering. John’s finger circled around until it hit a spot that sent off fireworks behind Rodney’s eyes, and Rodney heard himself moan and knew he would have come right then if he hadn’t come just minutes before. As it was, Rodney’s cock was semi-hard again, and he heard John whisper, “Stay with me Rodney, that’s just the beginning,” and Rodney knew he’d found his true Guide.

John slid his finger slowly across that spot a few more times. Then he kissed Rodney slow and deep, and Rodney wasn’t sure he knew where his body ended and John’s started, even if he could feel in exquisite detail every square centimeter where they pressed against each other. After what seemed an incredibly long time of blissed out wordlessness in his mind, the word “prostate” drifted into Rodney’s consciousness and he knew he’d read the physiological details before but never imagined it could feel like that. Still, it was good to have a word for that, because while wordlessness was turning out to be pretty great, that spot definitely deserved a name.

“Still good, Rodney?”

All Rodney could manage out loud was a groan, which seemed to be enough, because John slid another finger inside him and started scissoring the two fingers back and forth opposite each other, and Rodney had twice as many inside sensations to appreciate. At some point Rodney realized he’d lost track of where his own hands were, and he found one was resting on John’s side and the other was stroking John’s surprisingly warm ass. John’s erection was pressed up against Rodney’s thigh, and Rodney’s cock was fully hard and brushing against John’s abdomen as John shifted position above him.

Next there were three fingers inside him, and when John pulled them out Rodney felt empty. Then he felt John’s fully erect cock, all slicked up with whatever had been on John’s fingers. It pressed against him gently a couple of times, and Rodney wanted it inside him badly. John propped Rodney’s ass on a pillow, and then there was a moment of hurt, like a tear or a rope burn, and Rodney swallowed some sound but kept his sense of touch high, and after that it was good again, very good. John slid inside him ever so slowly, and Rodney wanted more and faster, but then he was also feeding off all the sensations he’d never felt before. Once John was all the way inside, with his balls pressed up again Rodney’s and his body stretched over Rodney’s even while John was still supporting most of his own weight on his elbows, Rodney felt like he was as close as he could ever be to another person, as close as he could ever come to being touched all over. He wanted to stay there forever even as he wanted John to start moving.

Then John rocked with a gentle rhythm, and he seemed to hit Rodney’s prostate with every stroke. Rodney didn’t know how long he could survive this much sensation, but he certainly wanted to find out. He heard John’s heartbeat speeding up, and he knew John couldn’t hold out much longer as John’s thrusts grew faster and faster. Rodney’s cock strained as John brushed against it when he moved. Finally, John wrapped warm fingers around Rodney’s cock and pulled in rhythm as John went over the edge and Rodney followed him. Their orgasms seemed to go on and on, until finally John managed to collapse mostly beside Rodney and not right on top of him.

A few minutes later, as John gently cleaned them both with some tissues and pulled up the covers, Rodney heard him whisper very softly, “This Sentinel and Guide and sex thing, I think we can make it work.” Then they both fell asleep in each others’ arms.

*** Epilog (many, many nights and missions later) ***

Rodney’s mouth was full of roasted vegetables when the call came, “McKay to control center, we have something new on the deep space sensor.”

Rodney hurried out, still chewing, and John followed him, figuring he might be needed and he didn’t want to miss anything interesting. Zelenka, Ronon, and Teyla, who had been eating with them, all came too, for about the same reason, John guessed.

The whole group tromped across the control center to the far side where Weir was standing with Stackhouse who pointed at a blinking yellow light surrounding a small hole in the biometric sensor array. Rodney stepped right in front of Weir saying, “This looks like a fitting for a data crystal. Was this here before? When did this start blinking?”

Zelenka said, “We have spare crystals that would fit there.”

Weir said, “A couple minutes ago, no one here knew what it meant so—”

Weir was still talking and Rodney and Zelenka had their hands all over the console when John saw a black shape appear silently on the ramp in front of the gate. “Company!” he said, as he drew his gun and stepped in front of Rodney and Zelenka. He noticed Ronon and Teyla taking the same stance in front of Weir and Stackhouse.

John felt Rodney touch the center of his back and knew Rodney was using the touch to ground himself as he raised his Sentinel senses. It seemed natural to John now, had become a part of their team’s response pattern, and it helped John to know where Rodney was.

“It’s a hologram,” Rodney said, just as John identified the embarrassingly nude shadow form from the time he and Rodney had spent together in a box.

The hologram spoke, “Based on our prior evaluations, we may be ready to download information regarding newly developed Wraith technology. However, we would like to evaluate progress on the two outstanding issues from our last meeting.”

Rodney said, “Zelenka, get us a blank crystal that fits that yellow slot.” Then he faced Weir, took a deep breath and in a voice he was glad came out loud and strong he said, “Using my Sentinel abilities, I can tell you that our visitor is a hologram. I should also mention that John and I interacted with this hologram before, and I suspect the lit data port is preparing to receive the sort of data it’s offering to send us.”

Weir nodded and said, “So you have reason to trust this emissary?”

“Not exactly. But we weren’t harmed last time, and I trust the Ancient’s system to receive the data safely.”

“You have only addressed one of our concerns,” the shadow on the ramp announced.

“Oh hell,” John said as Zelenka rushed in with a crystal in hand and an eager bounce to his step. “Permission for McKay and me to be off duty for a minute or two?”

“What?” Weir said.

Rodney wanted to ask, too. He was sure John was only asking permission to make a point in front of their guest. They were both playing the same game, but he wasn’t sure what John’s play would be.

“Give me the benefit of the doubt,” John said.

The words settled right through Rodney, as they did when John said “trust me” anytime since their experience in that box. Surprisingly, they seemed to work on Weir as well. She said, “Permission granted.”

John immediately put away his gun and slid one hand behind Rodney’s back and the other behind his neck. Then he pulled Rodney into a tight embrace and an enthusiastic kiss. Rodney felt his body jump from science-focused to half mast in an instant. John was kissing him, kissing him like that, in the middle of the control room. While they’d come out to their team and eventually to everyone as situations had required and rules had adapted on Atlantis, John had never been one for obvious public displays of affection. Rodney felt his Canadian reserve make one last rally for personal modesty before it was swept under a tidal wave of sensation.

All of Rodney’s senses had been adjusted up a bit as he’d evaluated the hologram, and now he was practically vibrating with the press and scent of John’s body against his. John’s tongue was exploring Rodney’s mouth as if it were the first time, and somehow in processing the touch and taste of that, Rodney had closed his eyes. He didn’t hear anyone else react, and he didn’t try to hear their heartbeats, not wanting to know that much about his friends reactions to this sudden display of passion from John.

“Very well,” the hologram said. “You have addressed both of our previous concerns and we are ready to transmit the data.”

John let Rodney go, keeping a warm hand at his waist, which Rodney found helpful since his legs had half turned to jello in response to that kiss. Luckily, Zelenka was focused on the sensor array and managed to slot the crystal into place. The yellow blinking became a steady glow that lasted approximately thirty seconds. Then the hologram disappeared from the ramp and the yellow light turned off.

“To the lab? To analyze this?” Zelenka said eagerly.

“Wait, that’s mine. I earned it,” Rodney said.

“We share data, but you are off duty, no?”

Rodney looked longingly at the crystal then glanced back at John. “They got theirs, now we get ours.”

“And me?” John asked.

“You get yours later.”

John smiled in his lazy way with half closed eyes, “Later.”

Rodney kissed John’s cheek then hurried after Zelenka, “I was only off duty for a minute or two. You’re going to need my genius to interpret that data.”

As the two scientists argued their way out of the room, everyone else in the control center was left smiling.

The end


End file.
